Thomgirl - I love this creature, the details (especially I think, the inclusion of bees) as well as the lines and wooden texture. It gets my vote. I think I'd have preferred the transition of the background under its hooves into the blur at the back,to have been smooth and gradual instead of sharp as it is.

Atto - I really like this one too. I feel the head looks a tad big but also, while I think the background is gorgeous, I only just realised that it makes the pose a bit awkward. Since the unicorn has it's hind legs in the air but the background has a hill there it looks a bit like it just stumbled down... Though I guess it's quite possible unicorns aren't as graceful as we like to think they are

So one of these images has taken the reference and pushed it to a new place. One of them is a beautifully realised expression of spring. One of these is not only delightfully detailed but also manages to recreate the grace and agility of the original ref.

And one of these is just a copy of the ref (and not a particularly good copy) that has just been composited over a reasonably well handled background.

Kodabble:
Love the centaur idea. Makes me wish I'd thought of it … and wish I'd had the skill to draw it too.
Hope you manage to get a working tablet soon to treat us to more of these pictures.

Octoberstormxx:
I still like that first sketch. I would've been cheeky and posted that in the finals thread, it's certainly interesting enough with those glowing, energetic lines.
I hope your neck starts to feel better. Keep it rested and then get drawing again!

Atto:
If you'll permit me to disagree with you then let me say that I think this is a pretty imaginative use of the reference. Particularly the choice of composition with that clever use of the repeating "V" shapes in the valley of the background and the anatomical angles of the horse.
That landscape is terrific too. Those distant trees seem to extend back forever into that convincing mist and the foreground has some amazing texture to it that contrasts well with the smoother, brighter transitions on the animal.
And of course, I should have known it would become a unicorn. You just can't resist a Bladerunner reference!

Thomgirl:
Such a great idea. So very far away from anything I could ever have imagined. But even great ideas need someone with the talent to paint it. Oh, and I guess you have that too.
At the start I thought you were just gonna do a dark pencil-style drawing, which would have been wonderful, but then you put in those highlights and it looked even better. I then thought it'd be a greyscale picture with deep shadows and sharp highlights, which would have been wonderful, but then you added colour and it looked even better again!
It's a really beautiful piece of work, almost perfect in its execution. I think the only minor thing I'd like to tweak is that white ground plane. I love the diagonal but the chalk-style texture falls a little between the softness of the background and the sharpness of the detailed horse. But who cares about that really? Not me! It's a fantastic picture that expresses a love of horses and nature, and does so in a vibrant and dynamic way.

Critiques: Atto, really nice work on creating a whole piece. It's very apparent you built up the entirety of the work as one cohesive work and that gives the entire work a strong presence. There are a few minor anatomical issues with the horse itself, but you fixed that leg and quite honestly, I can't bring myself to actually 'ping' you on the others because horses are quite difficult to get 'correct'. I have a fondness for them artistically and have been drawing them since I could hold something in my hand to do it. I've also studied them in life extensively being a rider and trainer myself as well as studying countless anatomy books on them. Barring that experience (which I assume you don't have, but I may be making an ass of myself here) I think you've done a truly spectacular study on one from reference. Well done!

Thomgirl... ah, sigh... always such big plans and always you don't quite pull it off. This work is finished to such a high degree of detail in some areas (nice flowers and bark, btw, really nice *pats self*) but it's clear you got rushed with handling everything outside of this 'Ent-Horse' that it feels a little jarring. I really hope you get some more time finish this out because it's clear you have some big ideas, but haven't gotten to fully realize them. Outside of that, good direction!